A PINT OF PLAIN is a piece about the great joy to be had in having a couple down the pub. Although the piece does explore some of my more serious areas of compositional research (such as a structural correlation between movement and sound and the notion of a phenomenological model for composition), it is mostly about the unadulterated joy of the first sip of a fresh pint when there is nothing else that you have to do. It is about that moment, at the end of a good day, when you with a good conscience can say that the rest can be left for tomorrow.

A PINT OF PLAIN is about the great pleasure of a stimulating discussion and the ideas it can give you later on, when you come across something that puts it into context. It is about allowing your mind to wander to fanciful places and peculiar ideas. It is about listening and exploring the sounds around you; trying to imagine them all as part of a larger system. But mostly, it's about the satisfaction you get from sipping through the head of a newly pulled pint and putting the world on hold.

A PINT OF PLAIN is about those moments in life that you rarely remember but couldn't live without. It's about sitting at a quiet table in a not-very-busy pub with time on your hands. It's about allowing your memories and thoughts to flow freely, unimpeded by external distractions. But mostly, it's about the interaction between a man and his pint.

The piece was written for Curious Chamber Players for to be premiered at the Impuls Festival 2013 (Graz). It was inspired by the following quotation from Flann O'Brien's At Swim Two Birds:

When things go wrong and will not come right, Though you do the best you can, When Life looks black as the hour of night, A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.